Learning to Lead in the Hills & Mountains
If you are interested in a career in the outdoor sector or want to pursue your passion for hiking in the hills and mountains, a leadership course is a great way to do so. While it improves your hiking, orienteering and safety skills, it also develops valuable leadership qualities and abilities you can use in just about any situation you can think of. Plus, the courses are fantastic fun and an opportunity to meet a bunch of talented, interesting and supportive people.
In this article, we look at what learning to lead in the hills and mountains involves and explore how the RAW Adventures Hill and Moorland Leader qualification can help you develop your own leadership style and skills.
Developing the necessary outdoor skills
All good leaders have one thing in common – a comprehensive understanding of their area of expertise. You cannot be a good leader if you do not have the fundamental knowledge and skills that underpin your chosen field.
That is why the RAW Adventures Hill and Moorland Leader course includes components on walking and route finding, navigation, emergency procedures, equipment, access, conservation and environmental knowledge.
A big part of the course involves equipping you with the core skills you need to enjoy hill and moorland environments safely. But there is also a leadership component. So, what does that involve? How do you become a good leader?
Components of leadership
Mountain Training, the organisation that oversees outdoor qualifications in the UK, breaks leadership into seven core features, each of which influences the type of leader you are and how successfully you lead. They are:
- Leadership style
- Decision-making
- Leader observations
- Leader communication skills
- Experience and ability
- Emotional intelligence
- Group management
Let’s take a look at each of those in greater detail.
Leadership style
Your leadership style is the approach you take to guiding and interacting with a group. The clearest distinction is between controlling and non-controlling leaders. However, most people combine aspects of both or alter their leadership style based on the situation.
If you want to go on a deep dive, endless online articles explore all the different leadership styles, which range from transactional leadership to participative leadership and everything in between. While some of this stuff is a bit heavy on corporate jargon and management speak, there is a lot of fascinating and valuable information on leadership, too. That’s the stuff we teach you.
Decision-making
As a leader, you will have to make important decisions. Often, you will need to do so under pressure. An effective leader understands what factors should influence their decisions and has decision-making processes and mechanisms to help them when things get tough.
Leader observations
Being aware of your surroundings, group dynamics and individuals is essential to good leadership. You need to be observant and able to read situations. While this skill comes naturally to some people, it is also something we can teach. Knowing what to look out for and how to make key observations is the sign of an effective leader.
Leader communication skills
All leaders strive to be good communicators. But it is not an easy skill to master. That is because it involves a complex mix of verbal and non-verbal communication, as well as an ability to listen to group members and others around you. For some leaders, this last part is the hardest of all.
Experience and ability
Recognising your own experience and ability helps you set appropriate boundaries and act safely in what can be a dangerous environment. However, the capacity to analyse other people’s ability level and experience is just as essential. It is a significant factor in decision-making and will influence what you do with a group, how much responsibility you afford them and how you engage them.
Emotional intelligence
Emotional intelligence is a vastly underappreciated leadership skill. Usually interpreted as the ability to perceive, understand and manage emotions, it defines your relationships with the individuals in the group you are leading. It can be vital to ensuring group harmony and ensuring everyone feels safe, secure and supported within the group.
Group management
Leaders most often take charge of a group. This means you must understand group dynamics, develop techniques for managing the individuals within the group and establish methods for fostering cohesiveness.
What does it take to be a leader?
What does it take to be a leader? It is a good question. As we said early, there are endless internet op-ed pieces covering how to be a top leader and a host of motivational speakers ready to impart their secrets.
The reality is that there is no one particular way to be a good leader.
There are techniques, tips and tricks that can help you become the best leader you can be. There are minimum requirements and things you need to make sure you do. But so much of being a good leader is learning to leverage your personal qualities in ways that benefit the people you lead.
Some leaders are more controlling. Others may be more laid-back. One is not better than the other. It’s about working out what is best in that particular situation and for the people you are responsible for. In this sense, leadership is very personal and different leaders take distinct approaches.
Become a Hill and Mountain Leader with RAW Adventures
At RAW Adventures, we aim to help you develop your leadership skills in a way that represents your unique leadership style. We want you to lead in a way that feels natural, while ensuring you always keep your group safe, supported and engaged.
Between us, the RAW Adventures team has considerable leadership experience. We have led mountain expeditions, teaching courses, training camps and multi-day hikes. We understand what outdoor leadership entails and want to train the next generation of hill and moorland leaders, so you can guide and inspire countless people on outdoor adventures around the world.
If that sounds like your kind of thing and you want to learn more about our Hill and Moorland Leader qualification, check out the RAW Adventures course page or contact us directly via our online contact form.
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